


Turnabout Horror Stories

by Ceapher



Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Background Relationships, Established Relationship, Horror, However there ARE major spoilers of Ghost Trick, M/M, Rated For Violence/Blood, post AA6 but no major spoiler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceapher/pseuds/Ceapher
Summary: There is a day when the members of Wright Anything Agency have planned to take a day off and go to downtown together, instead they are trapped in the office by a sudden summer storm. Not seeing any client coming in such a bad weather, they decide to exchange horror stories based on their own life experience to kill time. Soon enough, they are joined by some friends from the prosecutor office and Kurain Village. More participants means more stories, so this can't be a bad thing, right?Pardon my English, I know it sucks. Many thanks to @citymagazine, who recommended the best online translator I've ever seen.
Relationships: Garyuu Kyouya | Klavier Gavin/Odoroki Housuke | Apollo Justice, Mitsurugi Reiji | Miles Edgeworth/Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's the best thing to do when you are trapped by a huge storm with friends?  
Sharing scary stories, of course.

"Woah Athena, please don't push me!"

"Widgt, Widget is getting all wet and it stopped working!"

The young lady, wearing a yellow coat -- though it was wet yellow at the moment -- was the first to rush into the office reception room, leaving wet footprints on the floor with her boots. She ran as fast as she could to the washroom.

Seeing the figure of her completely disappear at the far end of the corridor, Apollo shook his head and sighed: "You call it a super computer, and yet it's not waterproof?"

"Widgt is a ten-year old super computer!" The voice of Athena came from the other side of the washroom door.

"You know, not-so-super electronic devices like watch have been waterproof for a few decades now. "

Apollo was almost talking to himself as he took off his soggy suit vest and hung it on the hanger. His bang, which usually shaped into two horns, fell down loosely all over his polished forehead.

"Talking about super computer, I suppose weather reports can really use one of those. "Phoenix, who was the last one to enter the room, stamped his feet on the insoles of the door, as if hoping that the old piece of plastic would absorb some water. "I'm finally beginning to get why Mr. Grey getting so upset over the weather forecast... "

Apollo didn't have the slightest idea of who Mr. Grey was, as he was watching Trucy pulled open the curtains of the office to reveal the overcast sky and pouring rain outside.

"I'm really sorry, Apollo. You don't really come back to visit us that often, and now this."

Phoenix turned on the TV as he spoke, and the screen lighted up, displaying weather report that was quite opposite of what he saw last night. He sighed again.

"Well, looks like it's going to rain all day. I wonder if they gonna stick with the updated weather report this time?"

It has been exactly a year and three months since Apollo returned to Los Angeles last time. Or to be more precise, since he decided to settle down temporarily in Khura'in before briefly returning home to collect some personal belongings. After 15 months of intense work, the justice system in Khura'in has been more or less improved, and Apollo finally started his first vacation at Nahyuta strongly insisted.

His flight arrived at Los Angeles international airport during midnight, but the number of people who stayed up late to welcome him home was much larger than he had expected. Trucy and Athena greeted him with open arms. While Apollo was overwhelmed by their enthusiast cheering and hugs, he didn't miss the crowd waving to him in the distance, smiling.

Mr. Wright, prosecutor Gavin, Juniper, Pearl, Sebastian, and even Blackquill was there. Vongole whirled around the plastic cage at Apollo's feet, sniffing eagerly at the edge of the fabric which covered the cage . Mimeko seemed to know that his dog friend was around, sending out a few meows as response. Taka, who was standing at one side of Blackquill's shoulder, eyed the cage suspiciously but did nothing.

It's good to be home.

...It would be better if the weather wasn't so fickle.

It was supposed to be a working day, but Mr. Wright made an exception by giving the entire office a day off and planned to take everyone to downtown. Fortunately or maybe unfortunately, their rendezvous in the morning was at the office door, which is why, when the sky suddenly started to darken about 20 seconds later, the four of them were able to rush back to the office before their clothes got completely ruined. 

"The weather is so bad, I don't see any client coming to the door any time soon. How about we play some games?"

Athena, who was as cheerful as always, made her exist from the washroom. Maybe Widgt was waterproof after all. 

"Good idea!" Trucy's eyes lit up, "Polly, I want to show you the fruit of my training with Athena-my new magic assistant!"

"Urk!" Athena's face turned blue as if she suddenly got chocked. She quickly passed a look to Apollo, obviously asking for help. "Apollo can watch your magic next time you perform on stage! Apollo... There must be some games you want to play right now, right?"

Apollo stared at her in disbelief. Oh, **really**, _NOW you want me to save your ass? You seemed to be pleased enough when Trucy had ME in her magical coffin._

_I'm sorry! Please, Apollo. I'm too young to die..._

"If your telepathic communication is over," Phoenix broke the silent argument between his subordinates, amused, "Apollo, can you tell us what game you want to play?"

"Erm, well... "Apollo glanced at Athena again, and the sight of tears almost bursting out of her eyes brought back the same old frustration he always felt when having Athena around." let me think... Well, I remember something like this happened before, when I was in high school...

"One day during a summer vacation, Clay and I and a few other classmates were about to hang out for a day, but ended at a friends' house when it started to rain...Mr. Wright, do we still have that flashlight in the drawer at the gate of the office?"

Phoenix looked back at the said drawer. "Yes, why?"

"It's just like the other day, sultry and dark, so we spent the afternoon together with the curtains drawn, taking turns to tell horror stories. The only light in the room was from a flashlight that the storyteller held in their hand."

"Horror stories... ?" Athena turned her head a little, one hand fiddling with her earring, "you mean ghost stories?"

"It doesn't have to be a ghost story, it can be anything scary, as long as it sends chill down to people's spine in hot weather."

"Sounds like an amazing idea, I'm with Apollo!"

Athena clapped her hands in agreement, although Apollo was quite sure that she would agree with anything he said at the moment.

"Ghost stories... "Mr. Wright, however, seemed to be a bit restless as if he recalled some bad memories. "... Why ghost story? Don't we have better entertainment?"

"You can tell stories of living people, daddy!" Trucy raised her top hat with one hand and her eyes sparkled. "as long as they are scary, right? I certainly know a few stories of forbidden magic tricks!"

As if to add some special visual effect to her speech, a huge flash of lightning stroked though the dark sky behind her and followed by a immediate crash of thunder. Lights from outside of the window, which had been fogged by rain already, dimmed into darkness.

None of them could make sense of what just happened until the voice of the weather reporter, who had been forgotten until then, suddenly cut through the thick silent:

"Breaking news: due to lightning striking, the following areas are now in a blackout. Breaking news -"

Athena rushed to the door, fetched the flashlight from the drawer and then returned to the couch. She picked up the TV remote and turned the device off in a heartbeat. Shadow fell over the interior of the office, much as it did at night. The only light source was the occasional flash of lightning outside the window.

"Then we shall start, I will be the first to go! "She said, beaming. The flashlight lit up in her hand, and the beam made an imperfect circle in the air until it landed on the ceiling.

"Horror story-telling is now in session! Let's do this!"

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for any confusing I may have caused, for this fic was originally posted in Chinese, and I was too lazy to create a new story post and retag everything. However this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, so I just go for it.  
I hope you will enjoy the story:)


	2. Athena: Source of Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athena used to know a great source of happiness.

"... "

"... "

"... Ahem, I know I made quite an opening statement, but nothing came to my mind for the moment."

Athena caressed her braid with one hand and waved the flashlight with the other, totally oblivious to the beam of light flying in the room.

"I guess that makes sense. Athena grew up in the space center surrounded by scientists, after all." Phoenix raised a hand to block the light beam, "You probably don't believe in supernatural things."

"Nah." Athena shrugged, "It was quite the opposite. I had encountered so many supernatural events that it took me a long time to understand the difference between 'supernatural' and 'natural'."

"Really!?" Apollo actually seemed to be shocked.

"Yeah, for example... When I first started working here, I was under the impression that there were five staffs in total."

"Eh... "Apollo tensed up a little bit,"Hey, don't scare me... "

"That's not what I'm doing. Then about a month later, there was a day when everyone was here in the office, I was stroked by the realization that we only have four people!"

"Well, because we do!"

"Not so fast, Apollo." Athena raised a finger and shook it with a smug on her face. "You are just trying to avoid the obvious fact."

"The only obvious fact here is that we don't have a fifth people."

"We don't, but then where did that idea come from? It took me a while to figure it out but eventually I did. We may have only four regular staffs here, but I can hear emotions from a fifth person from time to time."

"Maybe... you were just hearing things? From TV, perhaps?"

"Sorry to break it to you, but no. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the fifth member of Wright Anything Agency, who's been constantly observing the office but never said a word - Achtung! Here comes Charlie!"

Athena dramatically pointed the flashlight to Charlie in the corner, as if the innocent potted plant was a famous actor shining in the stage light.

"I'm sure you've noticed how Charlie makes rustle sound sometimes even when the windows are closed and the air conditioner isn't on." Athena didn't seem to notice the others tensing up, and went on talking. "I'm used to hearing sounds with emotion when no one is around so that doesn't bother me even a bit, but I had no idea how you would react to this piece of information so I didn't say anything. But hey, we are telling horror stories right? Now is as good as anytime."

She held her hand out to make a gesture of victory with a big smile on her face, while Apollo filched in his seat.

"Erm, Athena." Phoenix sat up straight and actually seemed rather nervous. "If you don't mind... What kind of emotion do you hear from Charlie? In what condition and when did you hear it?"

That question calmed her down. She blinked and thought for a few seconds, "Let me see... Nothing unusual, really? It send out happiness when we win a case, sadness when we don't get clients for months... Oh, right!" She hit the flashlight with her hand. "Boss, there have been a few times when you used the piles of law books as pads to make tea and instant noodles, Charlie sent out waves of furious."

"Is-is that so."

Phoenix's face paled, and without a word, he raised from the couch. He then bowed down to Mr. Charles, who was still standing in the corner of the room, and uttered with an unusual passion, "I'm sorry, Mia, please forgive me!"

The three younger staffs watched in silence as their boss sat down again, and showed no intention of explaining what he just did.

Athena cleared her throat and drew everyone's attention back her. "That reminds me...I can tell you some stories of my childhood. It may be hard for you to imagine, but I was often called a terrifying kid when I was little."

"And that's so not true! Any body who said that to you was just being rude. Athena is not terrifying in anyway!"

"Thank you, Trucy, that means a lot. But I didn't know any better than they did so I don't blame them. It took me a good ten years to understand the reason why people usually feel one thing but say another. Before that, I was often confused and helpless. It was only natural for others to have trouble communicating with me."

"Now that you mention it, when I first met you in Europe, you were quite a different person. So shy and quiet." Phoenix nodded as he recalled their encounter. "I was surprised how energetic you had become in just a few years. Not that was a bad thing, though."

"... A quiet and mature Athena...wow, is it too late for me to ask Juniper for an introduction?"

"That's too far, Apollo! I won't let that slip away even if I were quite and mature!"

"I say it's too late, daddy." The little magician folded her arms and sighed with mock disappointment.

"Too late, Trucy." Phoenix parroted his daughter in an almost identical pose. 

"Not even you too!"

Giggles and laughs rose and subsided in the darkened office. By the time everyone was back in their seats, Athena was smiling with a light heart.

"Anyway... "Athena cleared her throat, picked up the flashlight which she left on the couch," everybody still remember how my emotion matrix works?"

"You detect emotion from the witness when they give testimonies, then you compare it to what they say, and pick out any contradiction, right?"

It has been only more than a year, and he already need a few seconds to recall every detail of the mood matrix. Huh

"Correct." Even if she heard the hesitation in his voice, she didn't show it. "but I didn't know much about what 'normal emotion 'was by then. Not before I studied psychology in university, anyway. I made a detailed summary of various emotions based on description and case study, and then I started to get the idea of how most people define 'normal emotion'."

"Human emotions are so complex that it is rare to feel a single emotion and not mixed with another. The ability to distinguish different emotions from each other was the result of nothing but practice. Before I taught myself that skill, though, it was hard for me to understand what other people felt and vise versa, which was why I was reluctant to go to school. And... Junie was a very special friend for me in many ways. She fully accepted me as a friend even I was in deep confusion myself."

At the mention of Juniper's name, Athena smiled. Not the cheerful and bright one she usually wear, but a light and gentle expression. Perhaps, the quite and shy Athena was not that far away after all.

But the glimmer of weakness only showed for a second. With a blink of eyes, the usual Athena was there again.

"Oh, speaking of Junie, I have an idea of what story to tell. I should feel sorry for her. She got so upset by then." She giggled, definitely NOT feeling sorry.

"It happened when you two were still classmates? Back in elementary school?"Apollo stared at the ceiling, apparently doing some calculation in his head, "... Are you telling ghost story on campus?"

"No, not the same kind of ghost story in your mind." Athena deliberately shone a beam of light to Apollo's face, drew a burst of complaint out of him, "Remember the society study classes we took at school? "

"I do!" Trucy raised one of her hands. "I took this course last semester."

"Social studies... Ah, the one you made posters and gave presentations in class?" Phoenix seemed to recall the same thing.

"Yes, that." Athena's smile was getting wilder by second, much to Apollo's horror, "Once we were assigned a project titled as 'source of happiness'... "

\------------------

Actually, I hate this social study course. Our teacher is an old, kind lady, but she always makes me to interact with other students, which is the last thing I want to do at school.

At the beginning of the semester, we were assigned with another project in the exact same format, only by a different topic, which was "friend." I took Punco's head with me to the class and introduced her as my best friend. We were both cornered by a bunch of curious classmates after the class, and by the end of day, Punco's head was returned to me as a bag of components and screws. That's just one of the reasons why I hate this course even more.

This time, however, I am somewhat looking forward to the upcoming class. It sounds silly, but I'm very happy with what I'm about to show the whole class.

The topic of this project is "source of happiness". Everyone must prepare a short presentation and write about 300 words of explanatory text material. If the object can be carried to the class, we are encouraged to do so. If it is too big then sharing photos or drawing is also acceptable. All we have to do is giving a 3-5 minute presentation in class to introduce this "source of happiness".

I admire what my classmates have presented so far. Some brought a teddy bear, and some brought a game console. They are all excellent, but mine is perfect. It's so special and enjoyable.

The object in the glass box is now sitting quietly on the desk in front of me. The glass box is originally transparent, but it is currently covered by a large black plastic sheet and bound with a rubber band. Although I do not understand the reason why, but when I told Aura that I would take the box to class, she insisted on wrapping the box with this plastic sheet and told me to keep it on at school.

We are not related by blood, but Aura is like an elder sister to me. I want to be a good kid for her so I always listen to her advice.

"You are the next, Athena."

I was called by name. I carefully pick up the glass box, which is pretty heavy for me, and walk to the front of the classroom.

Normally I would have been too nervous to say anything, but this time it's different. Just by standing by it, I can feel the the box is radiating happiness, very strong happiness. I feel like being washed by the same, if not stronger assurance I feel from mom's encouragement. 

I start to read the presentation note I prepared with Aura last night, proudly introduce _it_ to the whole class. I met this new friend of mine in the space center last week. We have not known each other for a long time, but we are already close to each other. I take _it_ with me when I do my homework ever since we met. I also bring _it_ to the studio where mother and Aura work. Although _it_ doesn't talk like a human do, _it_ expresses similar emotions nevertheless.

Happiness, satisfaction and hope... so pure. So warm.

...

_ **Athena, Athena?** _

Ah... Sorry, I was lost in thought.

_ **That's all right. Please continue. We are all very interested.** _

Thank you, madam. Well... In fact, sometimes I feel sorry to _it. It_ is my source of happiness, but I can't do as much for _it_ as _it_ does for me. Aura once told me that sooner or later we will part, so before that I should seek for my own happiness and hope.

_It_ is the most fascinating creature I have ever seen. Just standing next to _it_, listening to _it_ talk about the hope that one day _it_ would fly, I feel as if being surrounded by a group of happy people, I feel safe and relax. Because of the fact that its lifespan is significantly short compared to mine, I find myself thinking about something I was once told by mother, that we have to find infinite happiness in our limited life. What does she really mean by that, I wounder?

I hold the box in my arms and bow to the everyone. I can hear the teacher start to applaud next to me, and she's soon joined by the rest of the class. This is better than I expected. Mom, Aura, and everyone at the space center will be proud of me. I finally make a difference.

_ **Thank you for your amazing presentation. You were talking about the hope of flying high one day, I assume your friend is a baby bird?** _

No... No, it's not. _It_ is a bunny.

** _A bunny... ? It must be bored by now, being hidden under the black sheet and all, poor bunny. Would you mind to show us your bunny friend?_ **

I freeze, hesitating, and lower my head in slight frustration.

I'm sorry, madam, but Aura told me not to unwrap the box at school...

**_No worries, you don't have to. Thank you Athena, you have done well. Now please return to your seat. Next-_ **

Still keeping my head down, I start to move towards my seat. Maybe that's why I failed to notice when someone stick out a leg and stumble me on my way back. I was too busy staring down at the box.

Before I know, I'm already tripped over and start to fall. I reach out to support myself on the floor, find my balance barely on time, forgetting that I had a box in my arms. The glass box fly across the classroom and break into pieces with a loud CRASH.

Fortunately, being wrapped by a plastic sheet, the shattered glass didn't splash out. But the loosen sheet can no longer hold the broken pieces together, and _it_ begin to emerge in crowds from inside the box.

One of the bunny's legs is pushed out of the black sheet in a wave of wriggling, and more of _it_ is crawling out of the rotting flesh. I vaguely hear people screaming around me, but the panic in the voices is nothing compared to what I hear from _it_. I feel like being attacked by a tsunami of emotion. It is so much. Too much. I can hardly feel anything else.

_The satisfaction of stuffed by food was taken away._

_The reassurance of hiding in darkness was taken away._

_The hope of growing wings and flying high was taken away._

I could hear _it_ making painful and fearful noises as _it_ flee. Being exposed under sunlight is a lot more painful than I can ever imagine.

Someone grab me by the arms and drag me off the ground. The class was dismissed later. I didn't know what happened. The only thing I remembered was being brought away from the classroom with rest of the class. We stayed in the music classroom which happened to be empty for a while before the chair of our grade showed up. Not before long, mom came to school with a long face. She had a conversation with the teacher, and I found myself on the way back to the space center.

On our way home, I asked mom if _it_ would okay. Mom shook her head and didn't give me an answer.

That was when I lost my source of happiness forever.

\----------------------

"I didn't want to go to school after that." Athena looked up at the ceiling, fingers unconsciously tapping the the flashlight, "It took me a while to develop the skill of distinguishing the emotions I hear by humans and non-humans. I did learn the lesson that most people don't have the capability of empathizing with animals, so it was still a rewarding experience."

With the story wrapped up, she finally looked back at her audience. Much to her surprise, all of them seemed to be on unease, doing their best to suppress their feeling.

Athena blinked and laughed aloud. "Are you scared? I guess my story is a huge success then! Wo-ho!"

"It never occurred to me that Athens's ability would have side effects like this... "Apollo's antenna-like bangs dropped down in front of his eyes, lifelessly. "... I'm sorry."

His voice was full of sadness and guilt. That's Apollo for you, way too sensitive for his own good.

"For what?" This is the moment when I shall cheer him up with my own optimism! "My ability can be tough sometimes, but it helped me to achieve my biggest goal and save the lives of the people I wanted to save. And I no longer need that 'source of happiness' anyway. That thing never mean to last for a month. Look at me, now I am happy every day!"

Everyone at the Anything Agency, everyone at the space center, is now my source of happiness. 

"So who is up next?"

"Me!" Trucy bounced up from her seat. The hollow shadow that had lingered on her face a just second before vanished like an illusion. Athena thumbed up, passing the flashlight to her.

With incredible dexterity, the girl in the blue cloak jumped off the sofa and caught the torch in mid-air. Then she landed herself to the ground, throw up her arm, and let the beam of the flashlight hit her like a stage light.

"All right everyone, it's show time!"

TBC


	3. Trucy: Forbidden Magics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are certain magic tricks you should never perform on stage.

"Before we start, I would like every entertainer of the agency to take a quick quiz!"

Not seeing the point of arguing with her about not being an entertainer, Apollo just sighed and embraced himself for whatever question Trucy might throw at them. 

"Think about this and ask yourself if you have ever seen a show like, it used to be so popular that you could see it everywhere, but after a while it just vanished from the stage and was never performed again. Any thoughts why?"

The three lawyers, who were not exactly entertainers, did their best to make some guess.

"People getting tired of it?"

"Nope."

"Being replaced by some more popular show?"

"No."

"I don't watch magic show... "

"That's quite all right. All you need to do is being on stage with me, Polly."

"Geez, give me a break... "

"Now listen up, Polly and Athena! You are my magic assistants, so you should keep this in mind." Both Athena and Apollo groaned but ignored by Trucy. "The best magic tricks are never out of date! As long as the performers are skilled, they can always attract audiences with even the most classical tricks. There are only two kinds of magic tricks that have been so popular but no longer being performed all of sudden!

"One: those tricks require an unusual large number of participants, and all of them must be extremely skilled. The more magicians are involved, the greater the risk become. My mother died in an accident during a rehearsal for this kind of show, and that show was banned ever since.

"Two: Sometimes in-explainable accidents happen to a certain show. Once that happen, no matter how popular the show was, it would be forbidden in no time. New magicians who just entered the industry also get heads up from other magicians regarding this ever growing forbidden magics list. We consider this as a good will from seniors."

"What do you mean by in-explainable?" Phoenix sat up straight on the sofa. "I've never heard you mention that before... "

"Daddy is not a magician, so you don't need that list, do you?" Smiling, Trucy lifted her top hat just a little. "Well I have never experienced such an accident, so I learned everything from my other dad!"

"Zak Garamarye... "

Athena heard Apollo muttering, but when she turned to look at him, she only hound him taking to himself with his head down.

"For example, there was once this 'flame blowing' trick, very popular, easy to perform, but permanently banned after once single stage accident. The said accident involved a three-part fire torch, which was supposed to be pulled out from the mouth slowly by the magician, but instead it expanded all at once by itself and pierced the poor guy from inside. The in-explainable part? The accident was recorded by a camera, the police discovered that the torch killed the magician on tape was too long to be a three-part prop, but at least a four-part, which didn't make sense. The torch they removed from the body was the three-part torch owned by the magician, and that was the only torch found at the crime scene. The magician didn't own a four-part torch so where that thing on the tape was from and where did it go remained as a mystery. This kind of stage accidents are considered as in-explainable."

Trucy's expression was a little sad but generally calm, the one on Phoenix's face can't be said as the same though.

"Ok now...let's move on to one of these 'forbidden magics' my dad told me about. The show is no longer performed so I guess telling you the magic tricks should be fine.

"Once upon a time, there was a great magician, let's just call him Mark for now. Although he really was a genies and fascinating, he was still mortal and couldn't stop himself from aging. So, when Mark's only child, Anna, started to show talent of magic as a little kid, Mark looked at his girl and came up with an idea... "

\--------------------

Although Mark was a great magician in his own time, it also meant that in his day, there was no equal who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Even though he alone performed some of the greatest magic in history, Mark's talent was much more than that. He's also created a good deal of amazing tricks... Unfortunately, many of those require at least two magicians to work together.

Mark believed that there was no one in the world who was as skilled as he was. He did not trust other magicians, and he was not willing to share his brilliant ideas with strangers. However, although Mark has long accepted the fact that he would not see these magic tricks on stage in his lifetime, he did not want these tricks to be buried with him forever without being appreciated by the world.

Mark had one and only child-she was born when Mark reached his 40s. Her name was Anna. As a kid she has showed significant talent and that was when Mark was struck by the idea of creating a magic troupe - for one day Anna would be surrounded by well skilled magicians she could trust, and with them, she could inherit his treasure and carry on the family career. With this thought in mind, Mark finally began to recruit students for the first time after years of fame.

Young magicians came in droves, but Mark obviously had his unique standards and only recruited apprentices of the same age as Anna. He was extremely picky on girls - they must be a few years older than Anna so they could take care of each other since Anna's mother had passed away; They must be the talented of magic and stage performance but could not outshine Anna; They must have the potential of performing independently and be willing to assist Anna's show when she need them. These requirement were unreasonable and contradict to each other in more than one way, but eventually a girl whose name was Betty got his attention. Not before long, Betty became Mark's first apprentice and Anna's unrelated loving sister.

Even from Mark's point of view - which was quite prejudice, mind you - Betty was an excellent example for all his students. She was smart, hard-working, and developed a health relationship with Anna. After years of careful cultivation, Mark wondered if her true talent would be wasted as Anna's assistant, and he occasionally voiced his concern to other apprentices. The magic troupe, however, was established as a stage resource for Anna. Mark eventually didn't let his feeling getting in way of his original plan.

Finally, among all students of Mark, Betty was the first one to debut. The show was a success, and Betty was rewarded by the permission of performing on her own, with Anna working as Betty's stage assistant as a part of her training.

The following story happened during one of Betty's tours.

During that specific tour, Anna and Betty were not accompanied by their mentor Mark, but by an assistant Clair who was familiar with both of them. Clair was mainly in charge of preparing magic props, confirming the venue and acting as makeup girl for both magicians. Although Clair was not a member of the troupe, she had been worked with Anna and Betty for several times before and proved herself as a trustworthy work partner. Two young female magicians rented a stage at a local theater for a week, and the only three keys to their dressing room were given to Anna, Bettt, and Clair, save the master key which was always at possession of the chief security.

The grand finale of the next day's show was to hit small balloons with knives, so all three of them spent the whole afternoon in their dressing room, making the balloons. They would need 52 balloons, a total of 104 for one day performance. After the rehearsal, Anna was feeling a bit lightheaded and left for the hotel where they stayed. Without help from Anna, Betty and Clair rushed to make the balloon overnight. Knowing Betty has a full day of show ahead of her, Clair asked Betty to go get some rest too and leave the rest to her.

With gratitude, Betty then went back to the hotel. Although she was staying in the same hotel with Anna, they didn't share the room, so there was no more conversation that night. The next day, two girls left the hotel and went to the theater together. Betty, accompanied by Anna, opened the door of the dressing room with her key.

There was nothing unusual in it. The room was basically the same as the night before when Betty left. The only difference was that Clair had inflated up all the small balloons as she promised and hung them on the plastic board for the show.

The two magicians were impressed. Clair must have been working for hours last night.

They did feel a bit upset though, when Clair did not show up just an hour away from the beginning of morning session and her phone was still out of service. Such serious malfeasance was the first time for the young manager, which made girls worry about her well being. If Clair didn't show up by the end of the day, they would have to go to her hotel and check on her.

Fortunately, the show went well. Both magicians were in high spirit and the first two hours of the performance were perfect. They soon reached the last act of the morning session : Hit the Red Hearts.

"Hit the Red Hearts" was basically a flying knives show, but with two performers constantly moving around the stage, it was a lot more than just watching one person flying knives to still targets. 

The routine of this program usually started with Betty standing at the center of stage and put on a blindfold. From there, Anna would be in charge of holding a large piece of plastic board with both hands and started to move along the stage edge. The board hung on both sides with small colourful balloon in the size of a human's palm, but Betty was supposed to aim at the red balloons only, hence the "Red Heart". All balloons were custom-made magic props, the red ones contained small items such as ribbons, powder in gold and silver colour, and plastic flowers, while the others contained nothing. Although Betty would occasionally improvise and deliberately miss her target to make a comedic move, the show was basically about hitting all red balloons fast and accurately.

In this show, interaction and communication between the two magicians was critical. The blindfold was not actually completely opaque, but what can be seen through the fabric was very limited. If Anna wanted to notify Betty about something, she would have to perform pre-arranged body codes to deliver the message while keep circling the stage. That was the tough part, Anna occasionally made mistakes and lost her balance when she was trying to keep walking and do the body codes at the same time.

The show started with a smooth opening though. Maybe there really was no need to worry about communicating after all.

The first knife soon hit the plastic board at the right time and place, and the audience began to applaud. The second and third knives followed as expected, and Anna, as she continued to maneuver her way across the stage, heard a clatter as something metallic dropped to the ground.

With a quick glance, Anna noticed a key rolling to her feet. Whose key? What key? She wasn't able to answer either of them with just one quick glance. 

But in any case, **no key** should fall out of any balloon.

As the show continued, Betty's flying knives hit the plastic board one after another, as more red balloons bursted into piece, what were hidden inside fell out one by one. Anna was trying to keep up with Betty's movements, so she didn't watch her step until she stepped on something and nearly slipped over it. That was when she noticed that she had stepped into some kind of crimson liquid splashed on the floor. Not far away from her shoes, half a human finger was quietly presenting itself in a small pool of blood.

Anna screamed, dropped the plastic board and rushed to the backstage, almost getting hit by a knife when she did that. The audiences seemed to be confused, but Anna just ran off the stage with hands covering her head and screamed something too blur to be understood.

Betty was left alone on the stage, obviously at lost. She shouted after Anna, but got no response. Without knowing what was wrong with her assistant, Betty took a step forward in hesitation, but her body swayed as she had stepped on something.

Betty pulled down her blindfold without a clue. She looked down at what she had just stepped on.

Clair's eye was staring back at her.

\-----------------------------

"It would have been an ordinary stage accident if that was all," Trucy said, holding up three fingers with her free hand. "it was considered 'impossible' because of the police investigation. Three facts:

"One: all the human body fragments falling from the balloons on the stage belong to the missing manager Clair;

"Two: the key that fell out of the balloon was a door key of the dressing room, the one that the theater assigned to Clair. When Anna and Betty open the door with their own keys, the door was perfectly locked. All balloons were in the dressing room at that moment, which means Clair's key was in there too; 

"Three: after all the remaining red balloons were punctured, a large number of human fragments belonging to Clair were found, but even the sum of all the fragments was only a small part of a whole human body. The rest of Clair's body, including her head, was never found.

"Apart from the three girls, the only person who was able to unlock the dressing room was the chief security officer, who had left theater after his work hour. He then attended a party, and at least a dozen of people could confirm his alibi."

"So the primary suspects were Anna and Betty." Athena tilted her head, one hand playing with her earring.

Trucy shook her head. "Betty was unlikely to be the culprit. She reacted really bad towards what happened. She started to have hallucinations and other mental illness caused by severe shock. It took several years for her to recover from the trauma, but she was never the same old person. She could hardly live a quiet life, let along perform on stage. She quitted the magic troupe as soon as she was discharged from the hospital, and never in touch again."

"What about Anna? You said she left the theater before Betty did, but she could just pretend to leave and return to the theatre afterwards." Apollo said while unconsciously waving his hands in the air, "For all we know, Anna could had asked Clair to have a private talk in the dressing room, so Clair told Betty to have some rest and leave the place, only to meet with Anna later."

"The police did launch an investigation around Anna, but eventually concluded that she couldn't have done it."

"Why not？ "

"Well, first of all, Anna was only 14 years old at that time. She could not have chopped the corpse into such small pieces overnight and put them into the balloons all on her own. She had to secretly dispose the rest of Clair's corpse. A scientific search was carried out in the dressing room and there was no sign of anyone else entering."

"They did, huh?" Apollo's hand was roaming over to reach his bracelet, "...Was there a reason why they suspected someone else might at the scene to begin with? You said before that Anna and Betty stayed in the same hotel, but they didn't share a room and didn't talk to each other over night. Was there someone else with them?"

Trucy's eyes narrowed as she looked down at him, making her suddenly look like a stranger.

"It was true that there were two other apprentices from the troupe stayed in the same hotel, but they were not qualified to perform on stage, so they were just there to watch the show. They were even younger than Anna, and the police came to the conclusion that they had nothing to do with the case."

Apollo's hand left his bracelet, somehow he seemed to relax a little bit: "Well, you can't really produce a crime scene like that in one night without any help... "

He paused, then continued, "I still prefer the idea of Anna being the culprit over some concealed chamber mystery."

Trucy stared at him with a weird look on her face: "Anna didn't do it."

Apollo seemed to be confused: "And you are so sure because...?"

"Trucy." Phoenix broke the silent he was in until this point, "you said Zak told you this 'story', but it sounds to me that he knew an awful amount of details for someone who heard a story from other people."

Apollo gasped and jumped to his feet. Realizing what he just did ,he then coughed to cover his outburst and slowly sat back down. Athena casted a inquisitive glances at him, but he did not seem to notice.

"You said there were two other apprentices... Could Zak be one of them? "Phoenix's face was too blur to be seen clearly in the dim light, but he sure wasn't smiling." Tell daddy, Trucy, the great magician Mark you talked about...was his real name Magnifi? And his beloved daughter Anna...was in fact Thalassa, correct? "

Trucy, on the other hand, answered with a bright smile.

"Aww, daddy, how could you ask such a question? Magic will no longer be magic if its trick get revealed!"

Phoenix stared at his daughter as if she just said something horrible.

"Three... Three locks... "

Then he suddenly fell backwards and collapsed unconscious on the sofa.

"Daddy!?" Trucy threw away her flashlight and rushed to where Phoenix had fallen. Apollo and Athena also jumped on their feet and started to gathered around them.

"Mr. Wright, Mr. Wright! Are you all right?"

\--------------------------------

Klavier sat on the floor of his office, watching the rain lapping against the window in front of him and flowing into a myriad of transparent water flows. He leaned his elbow on his chin and yawned in the dim light.

No, he was not slacking off at work, but his current situation really didn't allow him to keep working.

Two knocks on the door still made him jump a little bit, though.

"Come in." He didn't even bother to look back to see who was knocking.

He immediately regretted that decision, for the voice behind him undoubtedly belonged to his superior, the chief prosecutor Edgeworth himself.

"I just checked with the local hydro, they confirmed that there will be at least four hours before power is restored to this block. Staying in an office where you can't work is meaningless and not safe. If you are not required in court today, you can go home."

"Oh...I see, what a pleasant surprise. Thank you, Herr Edgeworth." Klavier got up from the floor and continued with a little hesitation. "Well...you know the internal line is still working."

Edgeworth let out a low chuckle. "Of course there are other reasons for me to drop in personally... I just got a call from Trucy Wright, who told me that her father was scared to unconsciousness by a horror story."

Klavier's eyebrows jumped into his hair . "Scared? By a horror story?"

"I know it sounds stupid, but Trucy may have punched Wright with Mr. Hat when she was trying to wake him up."

"Th-that sounds quite serious."

"Prosecutor Blackquill happened to be with me when she called me for help." Edgeworth diverted his sight just enough to avoid direct eye contact, "... Mr. Justice and Ms.Cykes are also in the agency with them."

"...and..?"

"...They asked if we wish to go over and join this 'horror stories telling' session."

"Oh!" Klavier finally heard a click in his mind, "How can I refuse when the fräulein asked so nicely?"

Edgeworth just nodded briefly and retreated half a step from the door of Klavier's office. The blonde quickly tucked the phone on his desk into his pocket and left the office, which didn't look as lively as it used to be without power.

Locking the door with his key, Klavier faintly smiled to himself.

Horror stories telling. Looks like he might just have an interesting day ahead of him, ja?

TBC


	4. Blackquill: Ghost Trick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon lived in the a prison where he met some most unusual inmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains major spoilers of game Ghost Trick: The Phantom Detective. If you have not played this game and do not wish to be spoiled, please skip this chapter now. The only plot you need to know is at the end of this chapter, Apollo started to tell a story about a murder case when he was still working in the Gavin's law firm. The full story is going to be told in the next chapter.
> 
> Also, the stories will be told in the following order: Athena, Trucy, Simon, Apollo, Klavier, Phoenix, Larry, Maya, Edgeworth. I should had posted this before the first chapter but totally forgot it.

"He's fine."

Simon said so with a steely firmness of voice, authoritative and unassailable. He straightened up from the couch in the office of Wright Anything Agency and went to the piano which was just a few steps away. He sat down on the cover of the piano, ignoring the horrible creaking sound of the wood beneath him.

"Right..." Apollo glanced down at Phoenix, who was still lying on the couch, eyes closed. "I don't mean to question your judgement, but are you absolutely sure, prosecutor Blackquill... ?"

The bird feather sticking out of Simon's mouth witched a little bit when he spoke: "I learned some medical in prison."

The lawyer's eyes narrowed. "you're avoiding my question."

"You want evidence?" Simon's shoulder was quivering slightly, which made Apollo wonder if he was trying to suppress anger or a laugh, "Then I will give you one, Justice-dono. Taka!"

The hawk on his shoulder responded with a short warble.

"Go and peck a few hairs off Wright-dono's head."

Apollo's brain probably stoped working for half a second before he finally comprehend of what he just heard. Several things happened in that half second simultaneously.

Taka unfolded her wings, disengaged herself from Balckquill's shoulder and dived towards Phoenix, who was still lying on the couch a second ago but now jumped up so fast as if a spring were attached to his back. It was too late for the hawk to make a turn in the mid-air so she crashed into a cushion with a _bang_. Athena screamed out "Boss!" Then rushed towards the couch, but somehow got tripped on her way, as the result, she landed right on Taka, who was struggling to regain her balance.

Apollo was staring at Athena, who just started a fight against the hawk before he turned away with an helpless expression on his face. Phoenix, on the other hand, seemed to be lively enough for someone who was supposed to be unconscious until 5 seconds ago. He ran around and hid himself behind the couch in a speed which even Apollo admirable in another circumstance.

"Wright..." Even the chief prosecutor Edgeworth was close to speechless for once. "...When did you regain your conscious?"

"When Trucy was calling you on phone, actually..." Looking up at Apollo's expression, he added hurriedly, "But I was too embarrassed to say a word! Before long I fell asleep again..."

"You fell asleep." Apollo echoed in a flat tongue.

"Daddy-"

"I really didn't mean to scare you!" Phoenix rubbed his hair, which was messy for lying on his back for a long time, showing an apologetic smile. "I only woke up agin when Edgeworth and other people came in, and I just started to get a hold of what was going on minutes ago..."

"But I was so worried!" Obviously, Trucy didn't buy it. Her hands moved towards her bag and seemed to be ready to pull out Mr.Hat again at any second- 

"There, there, fräulein, everything is okay so let's keep it that way, ja?" Klavier gave her a few soft pat on the shoulder to calm her down,"Your Herr OldMan deserves a nap now and then at his age, we should be understanding."

"Hey, hold it right there..." Grumbling a protest, Phoenix poked his head out from behind the sofa, ignorance to the fact that Edgeworth was rubbing his temple right beside him. "I'm nowhere close to an old-Woah no no NO NO prosecutor Blackquill help PLEASE!"

As soon as Phoenix made his reappearance, Taka immediately dropped her fight against Athena's hair. She turned around and dashed towards the elder lawyer. 

Simon chuckled in a low voice, so low it could hardly be recognized as a laugh. He whistled, and the hawk fluttered around in the air, landed back upon Simon's shoulder in a blink. Phoenix could swear that he saw the big bird making a weird face, as if she was laughing at him.

"Taka hates stupid lies, even if they are only the tiniest kinds." Simon raised a hand to stroke the hair on the back of the Taka's neck, the hawk soon relaxed under his touch. "You're lucky, Wright-dono. If it were a lie too much for Taka to take care of, it would be my turn to cut it with my sword."

Athena, who was finally free from her fight with Taka, took this chance to jump on her feet and slap on Simon's back: "You just did a great job ruining the atmosphere! This is time for everyone to get together and share scary stories, why did you frighten the boss like that?"

And with that, Simon bursted into laugh. He laughed so hard that Taka was swaying back and forth on his shoulder like a toy bird installed on a tumbler.

Phoenix didn't find it funny, but then again, it was not easy to get Simon's joke. 

"It's all your fault. Look at boss, his face is all twisted with fear." Athena stabbed forcibly in Simon's thick coat with her finger, "You need to make up for him. Like an apology."

"An apology, you say?" Simon scanned around and caught the sight of the lawyer who was now combing his hair in the mirror. He snorted and showed no sign of being sorry. "...You are having an event of telling scary stories, are you? I'll give you one of those."

Athena's eyes narrowed, she was obviously evaluating if the possible outcome would be enough to cheer people up. 

"All right." Eventually she agreed to it, and shoved the flashlight which had been forgotten on the cabinet into his hand, "But you have to tell a really scary one, otherwise it doesn't count."

Klaiver turned the light off just on time, the room was once again shrouded in darkness. Everyone was busy to get a hold of their surrounding upon the change of light, their temporary disorientation might be the reason why Simon's voice sounded like coming from below their feet.

"Scary... hump. I don't know if this one qualified as 'scary', but it is easily the strangest thing ever happened to me."

\-------------------

Simon spent all his 7 years in the one prison cell, it almost felt like home. The same thing can not be said to the owners of the cell opposite to his, with people coming and going. At least 5 people once occupied that cell during Simon's stay, as long as he could recall.

After all, inmates on death row usually don't stay in prison for long.

Except for one. After serving seven years in another prison, this man was transferred to the cell facing Simon's, where he lived for another three years before he left, alive. He was not even been sentenced to death in the first place, which was a surprise to Simon when he first heard of this news. Why would a prisoner who was not sentenced to death being sent to a place steps away from execution?

Out of caution, Simon decided to pry further more about this person, despite not being accustomed of snooping around.

As a big man who was over 6 feet in height, he could usually get whatever information just by staring at people. Stories of this new man was no exception. Within a week, he had learned the basics information of his new inmate: his name was Yomiel, and he was a senior computer programmer before he went to jail. He was initially arrested on suspicion of being a spy, but the charge was cleared later. What landed him in jail was when Yomiel stole a police's gun during an interrogation and took a little girl as hostage in his failed escape. Eventually the double charge of attacking the police and hijacking got him a ten-year imprisonment. But from Simon's point of view, things could be far worse to Yomiel if he hadn't stopped himself before too late.

Knowing as a fact that he would not end up in prison, Yomiel usually had a good mood in most of days. He set up a drawing board in his cell, and when he wasn't on duty, he hummed and painted, and occasionally chatted unilaterally with a black cat who somehow infiltrated the prison now and then.

Yes, that black cat... It was the black cat that attracted more attention from Simon than the prisoner himself.

Of course he knew that this seemingly tight prison couldn't keep out animals-if Taka could sneak in, so did a cat. But Taka had been bred and trained to be intelligent, and this cat was obviously not the same case. The cat-Sissel, as Yomiel called him-did not come and go in a pattern, nor did he sneak in with purposes like Taka did. He seemed to just pop up at random, casually coming into Yomiel's cell, playing around with him for a while and then taking his leave. Yomiel always kept a small part of his own prison food to feed Sissel when he came to visit him, as if Yomiel were keeping an ordinary cat like everyone else, except he lived in a prison.

An ordinary cat, however, wouldn't bother to bypass the prison's layers of security just to have a bite of his owner's cookie. The cat must have some kind of secret agenda. 

With that thought in mind, Simon throw his own cookie at Taka, who was waiting in the corner with anticipant.

However, Sissel didn't really pose a threat to Simon until four months later. To be honest, he didn't even notice exactly when and how it happened. He was sitting on his bed, reading a book when he heard Taka screaming in the prison corridor. It was already too late when Simon looked up.

Sissel and Taka were all over each other. The hawk flapped hard to attack with both beak and claws, but the black cat was fast enough to dodge most of hits. Sissel bared his teeth to menace Taka, while the hawk showed no fear and launched multiple attacks from above. Two animals exchanged a few furious assaults within seconds. It was really hard to say who had the upper hand-as far as Simon could tell, a fatal strike could happen any second now. 

Yomiel patted the bars of his cell helplessly. "Sissel, stop. Stop!"

The owner soon realized that he was completely ignored by the cat, so the former IT engineer looked over the two animals who are still in a hot fight and casted a silent plead towards Simon. 

Simon let out a few awkward cough before he looked away. Taka was fighting for her honor, and as a comrade, there was no way Simon would do anything to stop it. However, he also understood the fact that not everyone acknowledge the concept of a hawk's Bushido... So he just ignored whatever idea Yomeil may have in mind.

Before he knew, the battle between the two animals was over. Taka stumbled a couple of steps, then flew wildly away from Sissel and landed on a high ground, out of the cat's reach. Sissel purred proudly at the ceiling, scratching the ruffled hair on his head with a paw. He then walked into Yomiel's cell with his tail up high in the air, throw himself into the arms of his master, who was still trying to recover from panic.

\---------------

"Taka stayed away from me for a while after that, you silly girl." Simon said so with affection, softly stretching the feather on the back of Taka's neck."it wouldn't answer my call until later...I examined her wounds and was shocked to see the cat had left four bloody bite marks in her neck... Fortunately they were mostly healed by that time. Now I come to the most unusual part."

A few people who had already started slouching on the sofa were upright again.

"Their battle, of course, alerted the prison security, but by the time they arrived the cat had already gone... The only job left for them was cleaning up the trash on the ground. I observed from my cell and noticed one thing: all the furs lost in their fight belonged to Taka, that black cat didn't lose even one hair."

"..."

Apparently displeased by audiences' response, or lack of it, he repeated, more aggressive this time: "Not even one!"

"..."

"Don't you see how strange this is?" "The expression on Simon's face was rapidly changing into an annoyed look, "Taka is a bird of prey, a cat had a fight with her and didn't even get a small cut. What kind of cat it was?

"That does sound a little bit strange when you say that..." Trucy frowned slightly as she agreed to him, "but..."

She didn't finish the sentence, but everyone else did so in their heads.

...It was nothing more than a cat.

"I know what you're thinking now. 'It was nothing more than a cat.' Hah!" Simon looked around the room, glooming. "You're dead wrong if you think that was all."

"Could it be..." Athena's face lit up, obviously she got an idea, "...a youkai? You know, what they call an animal-like demon."

She said that only as a half-joke, but when Simon didn't shoot back anything but silent, Widget turned from green to yellow.

"I don't know what on earth he was, but Sissel was no ordinary cat. There was something I could never forget even if I want to." As Simon sighed, his broad shoulders collapsed a bit, and Taka, who was still on his shoulder, opened her eyes for a second because of that. "I'm afraid I could never fully comprehend what really happened on that day as well, even if I want to.

"As I said before, when Yomiel was transferred to our prison, he had three years left on his sentence, so he was released before me. Just before the day he was to be released..."

\------------------------

If this were not a prison, perhaps they would have had a farewell dinner that evening-after all, an inmate leaving here rather than getting executed was something worth celebrating. However, it was a prison, so none of this happened. The night was as quiet as every night before, with only the occasional sound of the exhaust fan raising in the distance.

At least, that's what it was like until Simon found himself losing consciousness rapidly right after supper. As someone who had been constantly on guard of attack from Phantom, he knew this must be somebody's handy work-the food was drugged. But before he could do anything else, Simon was knocked out by the thick darkness.

He only started to regain his consciousness when he was struck by a sharp pain on the head. Simon quickly figured out it was Taka tearing at the mess of his hair, although he would be more grateful if she hadn't done so fiercely. Simon tried to move his body to alert Taka, only to find out the drug had not completely gone from his system, and he was still as good as paralyzed.

Then he noticed something unusual: not far from his cell, someone was speaking in a low but eager voice.

"...Handed over the Temsik fragment... otherwise your fiancee..."

"Leave Sissel out of this!" Simon realized it was Yomiel yelling, although his voice was weird, as if he was being strangled at the moment. "I-I really don't know where the rock is! I just happened to be standing next to it when the rock hit the ground. I know nothing more, I swear!"

Simon vaguely recalled that Yomiel told him about his fiancee, whose name was also Sissel. They already had plans of future life after his release from prison and Yomiel was over the moon until he saw Simon's face and stopped himself. Simon found it amusing that Sissel the cat actually paid the prisoner more visits than the lady who shared the same name, but he kept that thought to himself.

"Stop fooling around, we both know that was not true." The first voice again, a bit more impatient this time, and Yomiel let out another choking grunt. "Only one piece of the meteorite was missing. We've checked everyone else involved and none of them had a chance to obtain the rock. We know that you and your fiancee are leaving the country as soon as you get out of jail...Do you still want that to happen, or would you rather be welcomed by your fiancee's corpse at home tomorrow?"

"No, please, don't...Sissel has nothing to do with-!"

Yomiel didn't finish his sentence, so Simon opened his eye just enough to see what was happening without alarming anyone.

Not much could be seen in the dim light, as Simon could barely see a man in a prison guard's uniform standing in Yomiel's cell, holding a square box that looked like an intercom in one hand and a weapon against Yomiel's neck in the other . He couldn't figure out why yomiel had screamed since he seemed to be uninjured, but judging by the way he was slumped on the floor, the man could have a heart attack at any second.

The killer who was disguised as a prison guard again tried to ask questions about that "Temsik" thing, and while Simon kept monitoring their conversation, he knew he had to find a way to stop this killer, otherwise Yomeil would most likely end up dead.

Only one man was in sight, but if he was holding a intercom, there would have been others nearby. In any case, such a high-security prison was way too hard for a single man to break in without help from inside. It would be unwise to engage any physical interaction with the killer and his potential back up. The best action Simon could take would be getting people's attention.

He knew there was an alarm button on the wall just next to his cell that could set off a prison-wide alarm. Even if the infiltrator was so skilled that he drugged all the guards in the prison, the nearby police station would send someone to check on them. Of course, the killer would not be stupid enough to wait for his arrest; he would have been long gone, and hopefully too anxious to deliver a proper kill before his leave.

One problem though-the button was out of Simon's reach. Even if he somehow found a way to reach the button, the killer would notice his movement before his finger could ever touch the button. He must lure the killer away from his cell for at least 5 seconds if he didn't want to get the killer alerted.

With help from Taka, it would not be that difficult to do one thing and then the other. How to accomplish both at the same time was the real challenge here.

As he walked the full event through his mind and tried to figure out a way to solve the problem, he was also making constant attempt of regaining his mobility. A small part of his body still feel numb, but at this rate of recovery, Simon was sure he should be able to move within no time. From where he was laying, the line of sight was very limited, and the only thing may be useful in sight was a bucket an a mop leaning on the wall at a corner not far from his cell. If he could somehow knock it over, it may attract the killer's attention for a brief while, but the timing would be extremely-

His thoughts were interrupted at the realization of the conversation across the corridor coming to and end. The killed seemed to have made up his mind and was about to leave. And just as what Simon expected, he had no intention of leaving Yomiel alive. He raised his gun slightly and pointed it between Yomiel's eyes.

Damn it, it's too late!

Grinding his teeth, Simon rolled down from his bed and cried out: "STOP!"

As soon as his feet hit the ground, Taka launched herself through the gap of the bars and charged to the killer.

She was fast, but not fast enough.

The killer wasn't even startled by their sudden action. Instead, he just just turned around calmly, anticipating the attack from behind. He raised his hand and pointed the pistol at Simon-he did it so effortlessly, as if he weren't aiming at any particular target. But then he fired.

Bang!

The only thing Simon could remember after that was the pain exploding in his body. It started from his chest-the scum probably put a bullet into his lung, the pain was unendurable but Simon was too busy dying to care. And then his body hit the ground.

He died.

That's right, he died.

\------------------

There was a dead silence in the room, no one dared to make a sound for a few seconds.

Simon was still leaning against the stained walls of the office, arms crossed. He slowly let out a long breath, as if he had condensed some long-depressed sorrow into a sigh and finally let it go.

The first person who broke the silence was Klavier. His voice was as delightful as ever, as if he hadn't been shaken by the story for even a bit.

"But you are still here, so I assume it was just a nightmare? Maybe some kind of side effect of being drugged?"

"Allow me to ask you one thing, Gavin-dono. Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning?"

"Of course." "Replied Klavier, but a slightly puzzled look on his face suggested that he did not understand why he was asked such a question." I had bread-"

"Do you remember what you had for breakfast the same day of last year?"

The expression on Klavier's face went to blank: "I don't remember."

"Exactly. Our brains react differently to things we remember and we don't remember. You answered me that you don't remember what you had for breakfast last year, but you said so only because I asked 'what'. As a matter of fact, you can't even be sure if you _had_ breakfast on this day of last year. 'What did you have for breakfast this morning' is different, however, because you 'remember' it. You know what you did this morning. And if you skipped breakfast today, you would answer me 'I didn't have breakfast this morning'. This case is no different. I remember how I died. I know it happened. I remember being shot in the chest. I can recall every detail of it."

"I can see what you are trying to say, but..." Klaiver obviously was not ready to give in yet, but Simon just waved him off and continued his story.

\----------------------

Simon probably would not be as confused as he was, if his memory had ended when he died, rather than duplicated itself and created an alternate ending. But there it was, alive and vivid.

In Simon's memory of that fateful night, some of the incidents happened not only once, but TWICE.

In that alternate version of his memory, shortly after Simon was waken up by Taka on his bed, strange things started to happen one after the other.

At first, the small metal window on Simon's cell wall opened and closed on its own, making a loud _bang_ and startled both him and the killer; Then the light on the ceiling, which was not very bright, came and went rhythmically for a while, which reminded Simon a certain code signal; Soon after that, an electronic noise sparked through the room, and judging by the killer's reaction, it came from his intercom. 

Simon still remembered that at one point, the killer would lose his patient and kill Yomiel off, and time was ticking out. He started to raise his body a moment before their conversation coming to the end, until something stopped him. A mouse, which came from nowhere darted out towards the opposite side of the corridor, knocked over the bucket and with the mop in it, sending out a huge crash sound.

Apparently, that was the final straw of crashing the killer's seemingly impregnable mental defence, even for just a brief moment. He turned away from Yomiel and stared in the direction of where the noise came from.

It was only a few seconds of distraction, but that was all Taka needed. She charged like a bullet out of barrel, hitting the killer's hand before he could take an aim.

The man let out a cry of pain, dropped the gun with a clatter. The gun rolling out of Yomiel's cell, slipping across the narrow corridor and stopped just a few inches away from Simon's cell door.

Simon didn't waste a second before he moved. He charged towards the gun, extending his arm through the bars to reach the gun. As soon as he had it, whatever drama was going on this evening would come to an end in a matter of second-

But Taka suddenly screamed and flew away from the man, a bullet barely missed her. Simon heard the shot and raised his head, just to see the killer turned the aim at him. In his hand, there was another pistol. It was smaller than the one on the ground, but a pistol nevertheless.

The killer fired a second shot with no hesitation, but Simon did not feel the horrifying pain and darkness as he did last time. Actually, he didn't feel anything at all. Almost at the same instant as he heard the shot, a black silhouette flew before his eyes and landed on the ground with a _clank_, as if the stone floor was hit by something in metal.

Something was off, but Simon had no time to think through it at the moment. He immediately reached out again to grab the gun on the ground-and this time, he successfully took it into his hands. He turned the gun around and point it ahead, just to see Yomiel, who had been sitting on the ground for quite a while by now, managed to summon up some courage and charged at the killer from behind. Simon took this chance and shot at the killer's right hand, which was still holding the gun, and successfully triggered a scream.

Before the scream died, the prison-wide alarm broke out and Simon's sight was filled by red flash light. He turned his head around, and finally had a clear view of who press the button on the wall. 

Or rather-what pressed the button on the wall. Sissel jumped off the wall control panel and ran gracefully toward the second pistol dropped by the killer. He seemed to be aware of the gaze from Simon, and turned around on the way back to look at him.

The black cat was staring at him, with an undoubtedly cunning spark twinkling in his round golden eyes. He then broke the eye contact and walked away, wagging his tail high in the air.

\-----------------------------------

"From the moment that Taka woke me up, the event unfolded in two entirely different directions, and I remember both. I know I'm not dead, of course, so it feels like..." Simon stopped for a few seconds, obviously struggling to come up with the right words, "... There was an alternative universe in which I was killed, and his memory somehow being shoved in to my mind and overlapped my own memory of that night."

He then shook his head and mumbled, "But that is ridiculous. Worse than ridiculous because I know it happened. Having a hole in my lung was easily the worst experience I've ever had ."

"Is there any evidence backing up your memory of being shot?" Edgeworth, who had remained silent since Simon started his story, finally spoke up with a frown on his face. Simon took a brief moment to reflect on his question before he gave an answer.

"Material evidence? No. I was the only one who had that alternate memory. I didn't get a chance to speak with Yomiel afterwards because the whole prison was in chaos, but I can tell from his face that he was scared, not confused like I was. so I assume he didn't remember anything funny."

After a short pause, he continued:

"But the material evidence aside... There might just be something. Remember that bucket and mop I thought I'd use to get the killer's attention the first time I woke up, but then they got knocked over by a rat after I died?"

People around him nodded.

"They were not meant to be there in the first place. All the cleaning supplies were supposed to be stored in a locker before the lights went out. The bucket and mop had been left unattended at the corner on that day was a mistake, a rare misbehave by one of the cleaners. I hadn't noticed they were there until I was woken up by Taka and began to consciously look around for useful items.

"In other words, if the memory of me getting shot was nothing more than a dream before I fully woke up from being drugged, then those two items should not have been there. Yet there they were, both the first time _and_ the second time."

"But how was that even possible? I mean, you died, but then you didn't..." Athena asked with her hands on hip, pouting, "What on earth happened, Simon?"

Simon sighed. "If I knew, you think I would say this was the strangest thing I have ever experienced?"

"What happened to the cat then?" Phoenix cut in, stroking his chin with one hand. Apparently he was still trying to sort things out in his head.

"He never showed up again after Yomiel was out of jail. Probably moved with him." Simon's mouth curled into a mocking smile, "Speaking of the cat, I may not have evidence to prove 'I died', but I do have evidence of that cat being something most unusual."

Athena, Apollo and Trucy were obviously intrigued. They moved closer to Simon to have a better look at whatever he was going to show them. Klavier joined them a second later.

Simon reached into the inner pocket of his long overcoat and fished a small evidence bag out of it. He lifted the bag in front of him for the audiences to observe.

Inside the bag was a small object that looked like a twisted metal knot. Klavier was the first to recognized what it was. "A bullet?"

Simon nodded in agreement. "Correct. A squashed bullet, that is."

"Oh, I've seen one of these before! Remember we found a bullet in the safe of the Kitaki family, Polly? It was just as out of shape as this one."

"Right...although I'm quite sure the safe was not belonged to the gang." Apollo blinked as the memory came back to him. "But yeah, it was literally embedded in the safe, no wonder it was squashed."

"You said 'embedded,' that means the bullet has still done damage to the metal surface." Simon caught the bullet, which was still wrapped by the plastic bag with another hand, "This bullet didn't leave even a scratch on what it hit."

"You gonna be kidding me." Said Klavier with disbelief,"What did it hit?"

"Remember the killer retrieving a second pistol after the first one was lost, the one he fired at me with?"

Athena nodded, but she still seemed confused. "But he missed, right? ...Wait, could it be he hit one of the cell bars?"

"Don't be silly. You are talking about the guy who heard me shouting behind him and shot me right in the chest within a half second...That being said, I did inspect all the bars of my cell for bullet holes just in case. None was found."

"If you say so." Athena shrugged, abandoned any further assumption she might have, "So where did you find this bullet?"

"Recall what happened when the killer fired. That black cat came out from nowhere and landed with a sound of metallic click. I didn't think much into it by then, but the realization hit me when I was waiting for the police to arrive at the scene. That clank was not a weird sound of the cat hitting the ground, but the sound of a bullet being dropped on the floor when the inertia and friction could no longer hold it at its previous position.

"You are probably coming to the same conclusion I had: The bullet hit Sissel. Or, to be more precise, he intentionally shielded me with his own body."

Multiple gasps sounded around him, and Athena looked like she could break into tears any second now. How did she manage to shift from one extreme mood to another in a matter of seconds was beyond Simon, as always.

Edgeworth, on the other hand, didn't seem to be shaken even a little bit by the collective grumbling around him. His eyes narrowed as he started to speak up, with one finger unconsciously tapping his arm ."If I understand you correctly, you picked up this bullet at the crime scene?"

"Indeed. Taka helped me to retrieve it before the police arrived."

"And you didn't give it to the police? Concealing evidence is a serious offence, Blackquill."

Simon let out a halfhearted laugh.

"Give it to the police, and when they come to ask me about bullet hole which didn't exist, I would just tell them a cat took the bullet and shook it off like a water drop? Thanks, but no thanks, Edgeworth-dono. I'd rather not to be transferred to a mental hospital, the unpleasing prison cell started to grow on me after so many years of life in there.

"But I've kept it with me ever since." He said, shoving the evidence bag back into his coat pocket,"as a token of reminding me to always keep an open mind to things can not be explained by common sense."

Edgeworth snorted, but said nothing more. The youths had already begun a hot discussion regarding the true identity of Sissel, so loud that Phoenix had to tap the table to silence them.

"Thank you prosecutor Blackquill, for the fascinating story. I know you kids would love to know more about the cat, but it's time to move on." Phoenix took the flashlight from Simon and immediately waved at another direction, "You are up next, Apollo."

"Huh? Me?" The younger attorney seemed to be taken off guard by that, as his bangs jumped up before dropped again. After a moment of hesitation, he took the light with a sigh.

Then he just fell silent like he couldn't think of anything to say. Apollo stared down at his fingers, which kept fiddling with the light switch when everyone else was waiting for him patiently. Just when Phoenix started to question his method of taking Apollo by surprise, which was obviously causing more stress to the young man by second, Apollo took a deep breath and spoke up.

"All right." He still kept his head down, as if eye contact was too much for him to bear at the moment. "Um. There was an...incident that happened to me...well, not exactly to me, but...an incident I witnessed when I was still an intern at Gavin Law&Co. office. That was more than five years ago but heck, it still gives me nightmare sometimes. Maybe telling it to someone may actually help me to find peace. You know, venting it out of my system...I guess."

"Kristoph?" Klaver, who was sitting right next to Apollo, lost his playful smile the second he heard the name of his brother. "Are you all right? Did he do something to you, Forehead?"

"Huh?" Apollo finally looked up, wearing a confused look on his face. That look quickly dissolved into embarrassment when he found himself being stared intensively. "No! It's not what you think. On the contrary, if it had not been for Mr.Gavin, I suppose the truth of this incident would had slipped away and the case would be buried forever, just like another ordinary criminal case."

That statement left Klavier in utter confusion. He turned to Phoenix, looking for a hint of what Apollo was talking about, but the elder lawyer returned his look with a blank face.

Apollo closed his eyes and quickly muttered "I'm fine" a few times under his breath before he took another deep inhale. With new found determination, he opened the eyes and began his story.

"I believe it had been about six months since I started working for Mr.Gavin when this man rushed into the office..."

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have played Ghost Trick, I'm sure you already figured out what happened off panel in Blackquill's story. When Sissel first arrive at the prison, both Yomie and Blackquill were killed. He rewinded time to 4 min before Blackquill's death, tricked objects into making strange noises to district the killer's attention. That opened a window for Taka to make a successful assult, which resulted in Blackquill getting the gun and saving both his and Yomiel's life. Sissel controlled his own body to shield Blackquill from being shot a second time, as Temsik fragment in his body keep him from being hurt in anyway. Fate adverted!
> 
> If you have not played Ghost Trick and not intent to in the future, here is a quick summary: Sissel was hit and killed by a fragment of meteorolite "Temsik", but the radiation from the rock granted him a few spiritual powers, including rewinding time to 4 minutes before some one's death through their corpse, or moving objects with ghost power. As for his body, time was no longer moving forward when he was hit by the rock, so he was trapped between life and death. He can not be hurt, killed or changed in anyway, as long as the rock is still inside his body.


End file.
